This time, as Stygian followed the thread, he ran without hesitation.
Philomena flew directly above him, letting out an encouraging chirp here and there. Together, they sprinted toward the center of town, ignoring the looks from the few ponies that remained.
They quickened their pace as they heard more screams. They rounded one corner, then another, and saw the source of chaos.
Ponies screamed and scattered in every direction. Shattered glass lay on the ground in front of a broken storefront window. Inside, a stallion fired beams of neon-green magic seemingly at random, destroying the shelves and merchandise.
Stygian lowered his stance and bared his teeth. “Let’s do this.”
As Philomena let out an ear-piercing screech, he charged at the pony, who fired pinpoint blasts of energy at him. One connected, piercing a hole through his abdomen. A second later, he was back on his hooves, the wound repaired. Another obliterated his chest, and yet again his vision only darkened briefly before he stumbled back up and continued to charge, a brief burst of flame left in his wake.
The stallion inside began to grow desperate, firing off beam after beam. Regardless, Stygian grew closer, his eyes burning with uncontained fury. As he lept, swearing to burn the stallion with his next blast, Philomena screeched again.
‘Wait!’
She positioned herself in between the two. A stray beam of magic hit her, and she squawked, collapsing to the ground in a pile of ash. Stygian screamed and dove toward the pile, but in a blink, she was back as well, perfectly fine, though losing a few feathers. She gestured toward the stunned pony and cawed something that sounded like ‘look.’
So Stygian did. As his breathing slowed down, he saw the amulet wrapped tightly around his neck and the matching neon-green aura around his eyes. He saw a crazed look of sorrow, sore redness on the stallion’s face, as if from a week of mourning.
“The amulet,” said Stygian. He recalled similar amulets he’d faced a thousand years ago with Starswirl. “It’s possessing you, corrupting your thoughts.” He extended a hoof. “Take it off, friend. Let’s just talk, okay?”
The stallion slapped his hoof away. “If it is, then I don’t care. I don’t care about anything anymore.” He stamped his hoof, and shouted, “I’ve been ignored for too long. I’m sick of it. Sick of being treated like crap. Let’s see if they’re sick of me after this.”
“Hey,” insisted Stygian. “Please, you’ve got to rethink things.” He placed a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder, just as Starswirl had done to him. “You’re strong, okay? You’re your own pony, and you don’t need the amulet to do that. And if there’s anyone who can believe in your strength now, it’s me. As a friend.”
The stallion stared at Stygian with wide eyes. He began to tremble as tears formed in his eyes and he opened his arms, as if asking for a warm hug.
Then the aura around his eyes pulsed brightly. He tilted his head upward and screamed in rage, snarling, spittle flying from his mouth. He aimed his horn and pointed a blast of powerful magic at Stygian, obliterating him just as Philomena tried fruitlessly to divert the beam of magic away.
When Stygian came to, he heard the sound of wailing.
His eyes snapped open and he cringed. The stallion in front of him was rolling on the floor, thrashing aimlessly as the fireball consumed him.
Philomena hovered over him trying to fan out the flames with no avail. Eventually, the cries grew weaker and weaker, until silence filled the store.
As Stygian watched on, his mouth shuddering, Philomena slowly landed beside him and butted her head against his side.
It was no use. Unlike Stygian, the stallion had no means of coming back to life.
Hot tears ran down Stygian’s cheeks. Here was a pony in need of help, and he’d failed, badly. He turned away, unable to stomach the sight, instead concentrating on the wrecked town landscape and the distant cries.
He paused. There were even more thin, fiery threads now, dozens of paths crisscrossing like a jagged scar.
So, Stygian did the only thing he knew he could do. With Philomena now following beside him, he picked one and followed it.